


We Fall Together

by universal_reno



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Armitage Hux Has Feelings, Blood and Injury, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt Mitaka, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Kylo Ren is Not Nice, Mother Hen Hux, Physical Abuse, Poor Dopheld Mitaka, Possible Pre-Hux/Mitaka, Protective Armitage Hux, Soft Hux, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-25 05:47:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22351198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/universal_reno/pseuds/universal_reno
Summary: Hux does what he can to protect his officers from Ren's temper, even though he knows it's not nearly enough
Relationships: Armitage Hux & Dopheld Mitaka
Comments: 5
Kudos: 60





	We Fall Together

**Author's Note:**

> In the fine tradition of Even (Space) Nazis Are Nice to Dogs, I present for your consideration Even Genocidal Planet-Destroying Assholes Are Nice to Junior Officers. I love the idea of Hux being protective of his own people despite being a monster to everyone else. I double love the idea of Ren exploiting that and beating them senseless to make Hux feel like powerless garbage. I triple love Hux unwittingly perpetuating his lifetime tendency to hide injuries by trying to patch up his ducklings by himself. Hurts so good ❤︎ 
> 
> This was written largely on my phone at 2am. You have been warned.

Mitaka was sure he'd die when he felt Ren closing off his throat with the Force. He'd seen enough other members of the Order receive the same treatment to know it frequently didn't end well. So it came as rather a shock to him when he regained his senses after the fact.

The first thing he was aware of was pain. Agony flared through his shoulder and the whole of his side when he reached up to touch his battered throat. It was enough to dissuade him from trying to determine whether the warmth trickling down his cheek was blood or tears. Blood, certainly. Lieutenants of the First Order didn't cry on the bridge, even if they'd just been choked and slammed into a wall. And besides, blood was a better match for the pain currently drilling into his skull.

A soft touch on his injured shoulder drew a quiet whimper but he forced his eyes open to see who was there.

"Easy. Just stay down. The General will be back in a minute." Shay mercifully avoided touching his shoulder again in favor of swiping bloodied hair out of his face.

The General. Mitaka should have been mortified to allow Hux to see him like this. Six months ago he would have been, but as Ren had grown progressively more violent the usually icy General had taken it upon himself to be the last line of defense for his officers. Hux understood Ren’s abuse better than anyone, if the bruises that frequently ringed his own throat were anything to go by. Though of course he never admitted as much.

Shay called over Stynnix and the pair managed to get Mitaka onto his less-injured side to begin assessing the damage before quick footsteps approached. A moment later something soft was pressed to the side of his face, drawing a pained hiss. When Mitaka opened his eyes again he found himself staring at Hux's immaculately polished boots.

"Kriff, he really did a number this time. Status?"

Mitaka opened his mouth to answer before he realized the General wasn't addressing him. He settled for a quiet groan instead.

"Dislocated shoulder. Likely concussion. He was out for just over three minutes." Stynnix's voice was businesslike, as though she was reporting on the status of their fuel reserves as opposed to the condition of an injured colleague, but Mitaka felt the faintest tremble where her hand rested against his hip.

"Right. Lieutenant Mitaka, can you hear me?"

"Yessir." Mitaka barely recognized his own voice. He cringed at how raw it felt against his throat, but Hux at least seemed satisfied.

"Good. We're going to get you sorted, alright? Hold this so you don’t bleed everywhere.” Hux guided Mitaka’s good hand up to cover the handkerchief Shay had been pressing to his temple. It was already sticky with blood.

“Shay, sit him up. We need to deal with the shoulder before we move him."

Mitaka tensed when Shay did as ordered but managed to keep any protest down to a quiet whimper. The younger man settled behind him and wrapped a steadying arm around his chest, but flinched back when Mitaka was unable to stifle a yelp of pain as his ribs protested even the relatively gentle touch. Stars exploded in front of his eyes and he gulped down the deepest breaths he could manage to keep from passing out again.

"Shh, I need you to be brave just a little longer." Mitaka was surprised that the hand that cupped his cheek was bare skin. When his vision cleared enough he found Hux --or rather, about three Huxes, though he was fairly sure the one in the center was the genuine article-- offering him the missing glove. Mitaka nodding once in understanding and took it into his mouth, sinking his teeth into the leather as Hux moved to his side.

He got no further warning before his shoulder was snapped back into place. The glove muffled his agonized scream, but he spat it out immediately after when bile surged up in his throat. Mitaka squeezed his eyes shut against tears of shame and pain as he vomited on the previously pristine deck, but remained dimly aware that Hux and Shay both stayed at his side.

"S-sorry sir" he choked out as soon as he was able.

"It's fine, Lieutenant. It can be cleaned. Do you think you can stand without a repeat performance?"

Mitaka swallowed against the residual nausea and the foul taste in his mouth and nodded. He would do even if it killed him.

"Good man." Hux gave his uninjured shoulder a quick squeeze before he and Shay maneuvered him to his feet. Mitaka's vision whited out and he swayed, but Hux looped an arm around his waist to keep him standing.

"Com me immediately if Lord Ren returns." Hux ordered. Mitaka registered the 'yessirs' from Stynnix and Shay before all his focus was taken up by trying to support as much of his own weight as possible as Hux lead him away from the bridge.

He wasn't surprised when they ended up in the General's own quarters. The first time it had happened -–two months back, when Mitaka ended up with a badly burned hand after trying to extinguish a nav console that had lost a fight with Ren's lightsaber-- he'd nearly had a heart attack until Hux had explained in the most exhausted tones Mitaka had ever heard from him that Ren had hacked his way through a couple of medics who'd been foolish enough to question him after Shay had presented himself for treatment following a particularly vicious beating. It was simpler this way, he'd insisted. At the moment Mitaka was inclined to agree. The plush sofa and securely locked door of Hux's rooms made him feel far more comfortable than he would've done in the med bay.

He knew he was safe here. Even when Hux drew the knife he kept hidden up his sleeve and began to cut away the top of Mitaka's uniform.

"The blood would never have come out anyway, trust me. And your shoulder will thank me." Mitaka would never have dared to say a word, but his eyes must've registered his protest. Damn uniforms were expensive.

He kept his eyes locked on Hux's face as he bared his chest and began to assess the extent of the damage. He was surprised to find him worrying his bottom lip, brief flashes of emotion he couldn't entirely mask flitting across his features every time his prodding drew a pained hiss.

"Well, you need the med bay. That goes without saying." Hux announced once he'd finished the examination to the best of his abilities. "But I have bacta here that should serve well enough if you don't object."

"Of course not, sir. That will be more than enough. And thank you, sir. For looking out for me. For all of us."

Hux froze for a moment and Mitaka wondered what he'd said wrong. But then their eyes met and he was shocked at the look of raw pain on the General's face.

"Kriff, Mitaka... You don't have anything to thank me for. This is my fault. It's because of me that Ren does this. He’s a bloody cruel child and he knows I hate it when I can’t protect my own people…” Hux's voice cracked and he turned away for a moment to draw a breath and compose himself.

When he looked back at Mitaka the usual impassive mask was back in place. He stood and disappeared into the refresher for a few moments, coming back in his shirtsleeves carrying several boxes.

“Clean yourself up while I deal with the rest.” A damp washcloth was dropped into Mitaka’s hand and he began wipe the blood off his face and neck as best he could without interrupting Hux’s work applying bacta patches and binding his ribs. His head was still bleeding, he realized after a few moments of futile scrubbing. He kept it up anyway, keen to obey orders even now, until Hux took the bloody cloth from him and tilted his head to the side to get a better look.

“This will scar if you don’t get one of the med driods to tend to it.”

Mitaka shrugged his good shoulder.

“I have others, sir. It’s alright.” He wasn’t sure what possessed him to reach up and cover the hand cradling his jaw with his own. For a long moment Hux didn’t pull away. When Mitaka dared to glance at him out of the corner of his eye he found the General’s head bowed, the same pained look from earlier darkening his face. The moment passed and Mitaka pressed his eyes closed against the sting when Hux dabbed antiseptic on the gash and taped another dressing into place over it.

He must’ve passed out again, or else dropped off, because the next thing he knew Hux was patting his cheek in an attempt to wake him. He blinked, wondering how long he’d been out. The bandage wrappers that had been scattered around the sofa were gone and Hux had scrubbed the blood out from under his nails. When he tried to sit up he found the sharp agony in his shoulder and ribs had been replaced by a dull full body ache.

“Still with me, Lieutenant?”

Mitaka nodded, when grimaced when the motion made his vision swim.

“I’m not supposed to let you sleep too long after a blow to the head, apparently.” Hux’s tone was apologetic and he held up an injector as though it were a peace offering. “For the pain, if you want it.”

“Please.” His first instinct was to refuse, but he hadn't the last time he'd ended up in this position and Hux had shown no signs of judging him for it.

There was a faint sting when the injector was pressed to the side of his neck, but he didn’t even flinch. Hux dropped the spent cartridge into the bin and came back over to sit on the floor, back resting against the sofa. It hardly seemed a proper state of affairs.

“Sir?” Mitaka wasn’t sure what he intended to say. It wasn’t as though he could tell Hux where to sit in his own quarters. But he looked strangely vulnerable there, jacket still off, a few strands of fiery hair falling into his face where they’d escaped all the pomade.

“Yes, Lieutenant?”

“I…thank you again.” He cringed even as the words left his mouth, remembering Hux’s reaction before.

“Of course. You’d do the same, I trust.” Hux looked up at him with a strained half smile.

Mitaka must have hit his head harder than he’d realized because the next thing he knew he was stroking Hux’s cheek in a way that was more appropriate for a lover than a commanding officer. He was shocked when Hux brought his hand up, not to swat him away but to tangle their fingers together.

“I would, sir. But you have to let me. And if not me Stynnix or Shay or one of the others.” He squeezed Hux’s hand, willing himself not to give into nerves. “I know Lord Ren does just as bad to you. Probably worse. But your men are here to support you, sir, if you’ll allow us.”

He could feel that Hux tensed, but instead of pulling away he gave a tired sigh and rubbed his thumb over the back of Mitaka’s hand.

“I’ll keep that in mind, Lieutenant. Thank you.”

“Any time, sir.”

They lapsed into a silence. Mitaka wanted to say more. Wanted to pull Hux against his chest and whisper reassurances that he was doing all he could and that everything would be alright. Except it wasn’t alright. He knew it, he knew Hux knew it, and it showed no signs of improving anytime soon. Impropriety aside he respected the General too much to comfort him with lies. So instead Mitaka kept hold of his hand, hoping to at least make him realize that they were in this together.


End file.
